How to make a correction on a lithographic stone without starting over from the beginning.

Alphonse Chevallier (1793-1879) and Pierre Langlumé (1790-1830). Deuxième mémoire sur la lithographie et sur des procédés de retouche et d’effaçade. Paris, no imprint, 1828. 18 pp. (9 lithographic plates and 9 lithographic text). Lithographed index of plates, of which two signed D.R. and lith. Langlumé, and seven with lithographic manuscript signatures of Anselme Payen (1795-1871), Charles-Philibert de Lasteyrie (1759-1849) and Edme-Francois Jomard (1777-1862) dated 26 juillet 1828 in lower white margin of plates.

The Graphic Arts Collection has superb holdings in the history of printing, with lithography well represented. This acquisition brings a key missing piece not only to our collection but to public research holdings for the world.

In the nineteenth century, lithographic printing quickly spread throughout Europe and beyond, particularly after 1818 when Alois Senefelder published a comprehensive manual (English edition: Graphic Arts Collection Oversize Rowlandson 905q and Oversize NE2420 .S5q). Others followed in quick succession and through these we can trace the many technical innovations introduced during the 1820s and 1830s.

By 1819 printers could read not only Senefelder’s work, but also the leading French manual (Antoine Raucourt de Charleville, Mémoire sur les expériences litrographiques [sic] faites a l’École royale des ponts et chaussées de France. Graphic Arts Collection NE2420 .R2 1819) and the English translation prepared by the London lithographer Charles Hullmandell. (A Manual of Lithography, or, Memoir on the Lithographical Experiments Made in Paris. Graphic Arts Collection 2004-2934N).

Founded in Paris in 1801, the Société d’encouragement pour l’industrie nationale (Society for Encouraging National Industry) offered medals and prizes for many branches of science and industry, in an effort to promote research and development of “useful knowledge.” In 1826 the Société offered a prize of 100 francs to lithographers “pour la meilleure méthode de faire des retouches” and in 1828 the gold medal was awarded to the chemist Jean-Baptiste-Alphonse Chevallier and the lithographic printer Pierre Langlumé. That same year they published a description of their process Mémoire sur la lithographie et sur des procédés de retouche et d’effaçade.

By that time, many people had perfected printing on stone but no one had found a way to correct or change marks without regrinding the stones and starting from scratch. Chevallier developed the use of a solution of potassium hydroxide (potasse caustique) in varying degrees of strength according to whether the whole drawing was be removed or a small section re-sensitized for further drawing.

According to Michael Twyman “The liberating effect was on a more mundane level; it gave the artist more confidence in the medium. A tone that printed lighter than it looked on the stone could be worked darker after a proof had been taken, accidents in the printing could be repaired, extra foliage could be added to the foreground to improve a picturesque landscape;“ (Twyman, Lithography 1800-1850).

Chevallier and Langlumé wrote their submission to the Société d’Encouragement lithographically and only later, published a letterpress version to the public (see bibliography). It seems that the plates had been produced a month later after the lithographed text was submitted. It’s interesting to note that the dates on the plates are quite crudely corrected from 1826 to 1828. Another important fact is some kind of involvement of and contribution by Charles-Philibert de Lasteyrie in this project, who created the first lithography establishment in France, bringing the technology back from the German Aloys Senefelder.

This lithographically produced treatise is believed to be the only copy of the original edition of Chevallier’s complete work on lithography and represents an important moment in the history of printing.

The letterpress editions:
Alphonse Chevallier (1793-1879). Mémoire sur quelques améliorations apportées à l’art de la lithographie = Dissertation on some improvements made to the art of lithography, Paris: 1828. Mentioned in histories but no copy known to exist.

Alphonse Chevallier (1793-1879). Mémoire sur l’art du lithographe: amélioration à y apporter Paris: Impr. de Cosson, 1829. 45 p. 4 plates. Columbia University, University of Virginia, and Bibliothèque cent du muséum national d’histoire naturelle. *note, Coming to Paris as a youth, Chevallier worked as a laboratory assistant at the Museum of Natural History, so it is not surprising that library holds this rare text.

Alphonse Chevallier (1793-1879) and Pierre Langlumé (1790-1830). Traité complet de la lithographie, ou Manuel du lithographe… ; avec des notes de MM. Mantoux et Joumar... Paris: 1838. 1 vol. (XVI-270 p.) in-8. Multiple collections, no plates in most.

1929/1930 marked an important moment in the history of Surrealism and for the French poet René Char (1907-1988) in particular. Early in 1929 while still living in L’Isle sur la Sorgue, Char began writing and publishing, founding the journal Méridiens (complete in three issues Marquand PQ 1141 .M47).

In August 1929, he sent copies of his book Arsenal to Paul Éluard (1895-1952) in Paris, who responded immediately and came to visit him in the south of France. They formed a bond that became a lifelong friendship and in late November Char moved to Paris where Éluard introduced him to André Breton (1896-1966) and the other surrealists.

Char’s Profession de foi du sujet was published in December 1929 in Breton’s journal La Révolution surréaliste, (Marquand NX600.S9 R3) along with Luis Buñuel’s script for Un Chien Andalou, written with Salvador Dalí. Also in December, Buñuel’s new film L’Age d’or was shown in a Paris cinema and Breton published his Second Manifesto of Surréalism, marking a new era for the movement. La Révolution surréaliste is renamed Le Surréalisme au service de la Révolution (special collections Oversize 0904.891) with the two first editions appearing early in 1930.

In the spring of 1930, Char, Breton, and Éluard went on a driving tour of Vaucluse in Southeastern France (located in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region). It was on this trip the men collaborate on the small volume Ralentir Travaux (Slow Down Construction, Marquand PQ2603.R35 R313 1990), the title taken from a road sign. In addition, they played with photo-montage constructions using Char’s family photographs.

In April, Char published Le Tombeau des secrets (The Tomb of Secrets) and in each copy of the limited edition included an original collage [see ours at the top], using a photograph of Char’s godmother, Louise Roze but (on Char’s insistence), hiding her face in various ways.

Because of this unique element and Char’s beautiful writing at this pivotal moment in 1930, Le Tombeau des secrets is a rare treasure, now for the first time acquired by the Graphic Arts Collection. This major acquisition was made with the assistance of colleagues in French Literature, Art and Archeology, and European History, for which we are extremely grateful.

René Char (1907-1988), Le tombeau des secrets (The Tomb of Secrets) (Nîmes: Imprimerie A. Larguier, 1930). 12 photographic illustrations reproduced on full pages including the frontispiece. The last is an original collage with added hand color by Paul Éluard and André Breton hiding the face of Char’s godmother, Louise Roze. Our volume has a printed red cover with a modern case. It is copy no.10 of 10 on Japon Imperial paper, with a correction (probably by René Char) on page 11 [see below]. Graphic Arts Collection GAX 2020- in process

Le Tombeau des secrets had a single publication in 1930; as a separate volume of poems, this work is neglected by the critics, perhaps because six of the ten poems of this edition were revised for the 1934 edition of Le Marteau sans maitre in which they were included as a part of Arsenal. …The importance of Le Tombeau des secrets in Char’s poetic formation lies in the fact that, while Surrealism is further praised and explored, there is an indication that the unreal has no value unless it is firmly rooted in the concrete world of man. The quest for poetic truth is continued, but now for the first time Char recognizes that poetry must be joined to the cause of man.–Virginia A. La Charité, The Poetics and the Poetry of René Char (University of North Carolina Press, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for its Department of Romance Studies, 1968)

The decision to purchase this volume was made during “René Char: Poetry and War,” a colloquium at Princeton University February 27-28, 2015. It took a few years but we are now ready for the upcoming Char conference next February 2021 being organized by Prof. Bearman.